Graiw-sepaiiatob



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

L. B. CORBIN, OF DRYDEN, NEW YORK.

GRAIN-SEPARATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent No.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, L. B. CORBIN, of Dryden, county of Tompkins, in theState of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement inGrain-Separators; and I do hereby declare that the following is a fulland eXact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

My invention relates to that class of machine in which the grain issubjected to a blast of air to free it of its impurities and has for itsobject to effectually clean the grain of all foreign substances Whilethe mechanism employed shall be simple and not apt to clog up, or getout of order, and to these ends my invention consists in certainimprovements in the construction of this kind of machine, as will befully described hereinafter.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention I willproceed to describe the mode in which I have practiced it, referring byletters to the accompanying drawings forming part of this specifica-tionand in which- Figure 1, represents in isometrical perspective a machineembracing` my invention. Fig. 2, represents a vertical longitudinalsection through the center of the same. Fig. 3, represents part ofanother similar view embracing illustrations, to be hereinafter referredto. And Fig. 4, represents a vertical cross section at Fig. 2.

The same letters denote the same parts, of the apparatus, in the dierentviews.

B, is the case, C, the fans and D, the shaftor axle of an ordinary fanblower; the shaft D, is supported in a step bearing formed in themetallic stand F (which is bolted to the base, or bottom board L, of theapparatus) and is retained by a cap piece D2, fitting down over itsshoulder and fastened to the top board A.

E, is a pulley to which a belt may be applied to drive the fan which isarranged, as illustrated between two boards L and N (see Figs. 1, and2,) in the upper of which N, is cut a circular air passage A2 (see Fig.2) forming a connection between interior of the fan case, B, and the airtrunk A. Said air trunk, or passage is formed on top of the board N, bythe top case A, (as represented at Figs. l and 2) and connects at itsother extremity with a box or chamber 27,274, dated February 28, 1860.

which is divided by a vertical partition K into two compartments one ofwhich forms a vertical prolongation of the air passage A; the other (M),what I designate, spreading chamber.

G is a scoop-shaped discharge spout which is arranged at the lower endof the spreading chamber and air passage and through which the grainmakes its exit from the apparatus.

a, Z), c, CZ, are the adjustable spreading aprons and a', c', cl therods on which they are hung.

g, is the adjustable fender board and f its hand piece or knob. Thefront board I-I, of the chamber M, is hung on two pivot screws, m, (seeFig. l) one on each side in order that it may be readily vibrated, orswung in and out from the chamber M, at its lower end, to vary theopening between the base block I, and the bottom edge of partition K,(see Figs. 2, 3) for the extrication of any large bodies which may getinto said opening and might clog up said exit h, and z', are slots, cutin the sides of the chamber M, to allow the rods b and d (which areattached to the swinging board (H) to vibrate with board H.

The blue arrows indicate the direction in which the current of airpasses, and the red arrows the direction of the passage of grain throughthe machine.

The grain to be separated from all its foreign particles and unsoundparts, is discharged in a gradual stream into the top of the chamber M,and falls onto the first of the spreading aprons a, on which the seedsare somewhat scattered, and from which they slide gradually down andfall onto the apron b from thence onto c, on which they are furtherdissipated, over the surface of said apron (c) from which they pass ontothe apron Z (by which time the particles have becolne all separated andspread out into a very thin sheet) from whence they slide through theexit y (see Figs. 2 and 3) into the discharge spout Gr.

The manner in which the grain passes through the spreading chamber willbe more fully comprehended by reference to Fig. 2, where the grain isdrawn in, with yellow lines; as the grain passes o of the last apron (Z,in a very thin sheet, the blast, or current of air, created by the fanblower (or bellows) passes up through it in a direc tion about at'rightangles to the plane in which or any loss of time.

the sheet of grain is moving of of the apron d, and perfectly purges itof all light and foreign substances (such as straws, burs unsound grains&c. &c.) carrying themup the vertical part A of the air passage over thefender, g, and along the trunk A; from thence through A2 (see Fig. 2)and the fan case and out at the discharge mouth piece B, as indicated bythe blue arrows (see Fig. 1).

At Fig. 3, is illustrated by red lines the variation which may be madein the degree of inclination of the spreading aprons, a, b, 0, d, whichvariation or adjustibility is very needful; since dierent kinds of grainwhen more or less wet and cloggy will require more or less inclinationto the aprons, to insure its properly sliding down them and becomingthoroughly dissipated, or spread out before arriving at the eXit y.

The elevation of the horizontal air passage A is fixed at such a pointthat the capacity of the blast will be just insuflicient to lift theheaviest grain (or wettest) which will have to be passed through themachine, up over it. By this construction all foreign matters lighterthan the good grain must be elevated to the air trunk A; from whencethey are carried off; but this arrangement would not operatesuccessfully when lighter grain would be run through the machine, forthe grain and all would be elevated to the trunk A and carried off; butwhen lighter grain is to be cleaned the fender g, is elevated, (as seenin red at Fig. 3,) to such height as to cause the same effect to beproduced on the light grain as was before on the heavy; the capacity ofthe blast remaining the same in all instances (its feeding passage, thevertical air passage A remaining always the same size). It frequentlyoccurs that there are miXed with the grain large pieces of foreignmatters which would not readily pass through the exit y, intended onlyto emit a very thin stream of grain. The presence of any such obstaclesis very easily detected by the operator who by taking hold of the frontboard H keeping y the lower apron down on to the block I, and shakingthe lower edge (as illustrated in red lines at Fig. 3) will eifectuallydislodge any such obstacle without stopping the machine,

The scope of adjustment of the last apron d, is much more restrictedthan that of any of the others, but its adjustment accomplishes anadditional and very important result viz: the regulation of the capacityof the eXit y, which is very important, for it is necessary that theexit should be so varied as to just allow, the thinnest possible sheetof the grain being operated upon, to pass through, since otherwise thesupply of air to the fan would be in a great measure permitted throughthe chamber M, which would not only be detrimental to the thoroughseparation of the chaff from the grain, but would also induce too rapida descent of the grain over the aprons. Y

I have illustrated and described the apparatus which I have been usingin my mill, and which was arranged immediately over the runv of stones,(the spout G, extending into the eye of the stone) and below the hopperfrom the spout of which (shaken by the clauzel) the grain flowed intothe chamber M, instead of into the eye of the stone as ordinarily; butit is obvious that my invention can be applied in other forms.

In the application of my inventionk which I have made to grain which hadgone through all the practiced processes of cleaning and was beingground, I have cleaned out about of a pound, to the bushel, of foreignmatters such as straws, husks, burs, unsound grain, worms &c. &c.

I do not wish to limit my invention to the number of spreading apronsshown since it may be varied without departing from the spirit of myinvention neither do I wish to limit myself to the exact construction ofapparatus shown and described in this application, nor do I wish to beunderstood as embodying in my invention the ideav of passing grain overinclined screens, or perforated surfaces, as is common in steamingapparatuses, or over a series of heated surfaces as in drying machinesbut What I do claim as of my invention, (in machines for extractingforeign matters from grain) is- 1. Making the spreading apronsadjustable, so that the degree of inclination of each and any of themmay be varied at pleasure for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.

l 2. The adjustable frontis-piece H, of the spreading chamber, incombination with the partition K, the whole arranged to operate asspecified for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and aiixed my seal thisfirst day of December 1859.

L. B. CORBIN. [Ls]

